FARMINGTON, Maine – The University of Maine at Farmington connected on over twice as many field goals as visiting Johnson State College and dominated the Badgers on the boards and cruised to a 68-37 North Atlantic Conference men's basketball win on Sunday afternoon at Dearborn Gym.
UMaine-Farmington improved to 18-5 overall, 13-3 in the NAC, and assures the Beavers of a home quarterfinal game in the upcoming NAC Tournament. Johnson State fell to 8-14 overall with the loss, 6-9 in conference play.
The Beavers made 25 of their 51 field goal attempts (.490), while holding the Badgers to just 11 field goals out of 49 shots taken (.224). UMaine-Farmington was 8-of-22 from 3-point range, with four of those treys coming from Garrett Clemmer (Windham, Maine/Windham). Clemmer was one of the two UMF players in double-digits with 12 points, to go with his nine rebounds.
UMF big man Ben Johnson (Manchester, Maine/Maranacook) logged his 15th double-double of the season with 23 points and a 19 career-high rebounds, after going 9-of-11 from the floor and 5-of-7 at the free-throw line. Johnson charted 14 of those points in the second half. Yusuf Iman (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little), Nick Hilton (Wilton, Maine/Mt. Blue), and Uriah Forest-Bulley (Turner Falls, Mass./Turner Falls) each tallied six points, with Iman dishing out seven assists.
Asim Khan (Torrance, Calif.) paced Johnson State with 10 points, with Ron Adrian (Schenectady, N.Y.) chipping in with six points.
UMaine-Farmington held a commanding 51 to 16 advantage on the boards, with the Beavers' 14 offensive rebounds yielding 18 second-chance points.
Johnson State held the lead for the first seven-and-a-half minutes of the game, after Adrian and Khan connected on a pair of early 3-pointers for the Badgers. Farmington finally overtook Johnson State at the 12:07 mark of the opening half, when a Forest-Bulley jumper knotted the game at 12-12 and was followed quickly by a Johnson layup.
The Beavers slowly extended their lead over the remainder of the half, but the Badgers were still within striking distance just nine points down, 28-19, at the intermission.
That changed quickly in the second half, as UMaine-Farmington came away with points on each of its first five possessions. The Beavers' lead cracked the 20-point mark on Clemmer's trey with 13:24 remaining, part of a 15-0 UMaine-Farmington run midway through the frame that left UMF with a 58-26 lead with 9:31 to play.
UMaine-Farmington plays its final road regular season game on Tuesday, Feb. 12, when it travels to Bangor to face archrival Husson University in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off. Johnson State also returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Castleton State College at 5:30 p.m. in Carter Gym.
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